


Upgrades

by argle_fraster



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-04
Updated: 2012-07-04
Packaged: 2017-11-09 04:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/451140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/argle_fraster/pseuds/argle_fraster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony wakes in his lab and comes up with a version of his life numbered 2.0.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Upgrades

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in weeks - I moved across an ocean + country, overcame jet-lag and started A REALLY INTENSE new job, so this is just a short, vague little thing to get me back into the fandom writing mindset again. :)

Tony doesn't sleep a lot of places.

Tony doesn't sleep a lot _period_ ; in the darker parts of his mind where his memories run, there are too many images to cast aside. Falling asleep often feels like playing Russian Roulette with his own thoughts, and it's often better to just bypass it altogether - for a cup of double espresso or a can of Red Bull, or, in the case of particularly difficult days, an Irish coffee light on the caffeine component. But to sleep, and really, truly _sleep_ , Tony has to feel comfortable. Secure. Protected from both the outside and the inside.

It's probably why his lab, with the rhythmic purr and hum of the machines and Jarvis' automatic dimming of the lights once his eyes shut, makes for a good resting spot. Tony's at home among the machines, the wires and coils that have always seemed clearer than human intentions, and it's probably why he finds himself being startled back into wakefulness by the gentle skim of knuckles against the back of his neck.

"Hey," Bruce says, low and kind of guttural, deep down in his throat like the rumble of not-so-distant thunder. "You fell asleep."

Tony drags a heavy palm across his eyes, which are stinging a bit with the heaviness of what feels an awful lot like sand. "Sorry. You... could have kept working around me. New suit plans?"

"You passed out on top of the schematics," Bruce chuckles.

Glancing blearily down at the papers his arms are folded across confirms it. "Huh," Tony says, eloquently, and picks his elbows up just enough for Bruce to tug the blueprints free. "Probably should be paying more attention to the areas where my mind shuts off."

"Or have Jarvis do that sort of thing for you."

"Jarvis is probably too glad just to see me sleep," Tony says, with a wave of his hand.

Bruce's face is oddly open - relaxed, at the edges, where there are usually lines with the weight of years the man himself hasn't even seen, and the air is missing Jarvis' usual borderline sarcastic reply. It takes Tony a long moment to realize he muted Jarvis before he fell asleep.

"If you're tired..." he starts.

"Not a bit," Tony replies, like the man hadn't just woken him up from a dead sleep.

Bruce makes a show of biting back his amused response. He unrolls the schematics once more, flat against the top of the counter, and bends over them with his fingers tapping out a light rhythm against his opposite forearm. "Well, since you're up, we could go over the modifications to the system identification response time-"

"I could sleep," Tony interrupts, blurting it out before he can stop himself. He feels stupid enough before Bruce turns to look at him with raised eyebrows, and shrugs. He doesn't know why the words came out. "I mean, with you here. I could sleep."

"I wasn't doubting your ability," Bruce smiles. He doesn't _get it_.

"No, I mean," Tony starts, and runs his tongue slowly between his teeth, feeling the slightly curved, jagged edges catch a bit. "If you were here, I would feel... _comfortable_ enough to sleep."

There's a second of nothing, and Bruce, ducking his head a bit like he's unsure, like he's caught off-guard, taps another nervous pattern against his skin.

"I don't-" Bruce starts.

"I don't say that to many people," Tony continues, rambling, unable to stop; it's like a deluge, like water bursting over the top of a dam, and in his head Tony is calculating the rate at which it would _flow_ , the intensity and propulsion of the flood that is _Tony Stark_. He strums out the equation in time with Bruce's nervous beat. "I just... well. Apparently, my brain thought that you should know."

It takes awhile before Bruce really seems to catch on, to _see_ , to be working through the variables and pieces and unknowns that make up Tony: the quadratic formula coupled with chemical bonds and balances. "You know," the other man says, and runs his tongue along his bottom lip while his eyes focus off somewhere in the corner, somewhere other than Tony, other than the heart-to-heart that is slapping him in the face, "I'd probably be about to sleep with you, too."

Tony chokes on his laughter, on the bubble that pops up from his constricting lungs and threatens to close his throat, because it's the only thing to do, and Bruce's cheeks color.

"I didn't - I didn't mean it like _that_ ," he struggles.

"No one _thinks_ they can sleep with Tony Stark," Tony says, and his hand goes to Bruce's shoulder, fingers closing around the joint that always seems to be hunched low and in and over on itself. "That's just something that everyone _hopes_ for."

Bruce appears glad for the slight change of subject, though his cheeks are still tinged with pink. And Tony's unsure which of them is more off-balance: vulnerable, maybe, if he had to put a concrete term to it. Tony doesn't like being _vulnerable_ , but even that doesn't seem like such a death-sentence around Bruce's unassuming presence and steady warmth.

He leaves his hand where it is; he likes the way it curves around Bruce's form.

"Well, if you're up," Bruce begins, and leans back - back into Tony's hand, shoulder blade into the flesh of Tony's palm, and Tony just _knows_ , like the whir of a circuit board and the rush of the air around the Iron Man suit, "we could get working on these upgrades..."

"Sure," Tony says. _Upgrades_ sounds like exactly what it'll be, when he's waking up next to someone who doesn't work for the Washington Post or want to go viral with pictures of his bare ass. "Let's get working, then."


End file.
